The only way is up for Warne
PAUL WARNE revelled in the satisfaction of Rotherham’s victory that sealed promotion to the Championship, a result that relegated Gillingham.
The Millers made their first-half dominance count when Rarmani Edmondsgreen met Michael Ihiekwe’s goal-bound header to poke home from close range after 34 minutes.
A draw would have been enough to extend Gillingham’s nine-year stay in the third tier, but their survival hopes were dashed when substitute Georgie Kelly fired past the helpless Aaron Chapman at the death.
“It has been a good day. It wasn’t until the second goal that I felt comfortable but now it feels really special,” said Warne. “It’s satisfying. We got ourselves into a really good position and it looked like it was slipping through our hands.
“I’m really proud of the group in the way they came together. I’m so, so satisfied with what we’ve achieved.”
“In fairness to Gillingham, they played well. And we were expecting that as they had something to play for.
“I knew how hard it was going to be. They’re hard to break down, they don’t concede many goals and they’re good at home.”
Neil Harris (above) admits his Gillingham side have failed to meet expectations as their relegation was confirmed. He said: “Ultimately, I’m the manager of this club so I take responsibility for letting the fans down this season. “However, the standards, the professionalism, the recruitments haven’t been good enough and we’ve paid the price. We’ve scored 13 goals at home this season. That’s a disgrace for any football club. I’ve wanted to play a back four since I came in here but I can’t because we just concede goals. You can always blame past regimes, the fact we haven’t got this or that, but they have to take responsibility.”